


you're picking up all the pieces

by natromanoffs



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-24 21:22:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14962397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natromanoffs/pseuds/natromanoffs
Summary: her home is nestled between the mountains. between his arms.





	you're picking up all the pieces

Natasha drives through the mountains. Her insides draw together in the pit of her stomach. She pulls over from time to time to check her phone, to look at her texts, to see the news. It’s a constant buzzing in the back of her brain. The mountains seem to last forever, yet they fly past her as she drives.

——

 

She remembers driving past mountains as a girl, in Russia. She saw the houses and thought about how nice it must be to live there. To be nestled between the curves of grass, surrounded by nature.

The next time she went past those mountains, the car went the other way. Her hands were stained with blood (she’d washed them at least a hundred times already). This time, she wondered if anyone lived in those houses. Or if they were empty, just shells with nothing inside. That’s what she was. A husk. Inside, there was only ice.

-

 

When Clint shot an arrow into her chest, it broke the ice. It broke the cold into shards (some of which still haven’t melted). 

He pulled the arrow from her chest. He covered it in silver and hung it around her neck. 

 

-

 

Cats and dogs have collars around their necks. These collars have numbers that lead to their families. The collars tether these animals to their homes.

Natasha used to know a black cat that would sit on her windowsill. This cat didn’t have a collar. She and Natasha were the same in that way. That’s not the case anymore. The arrow around Natasha’s neck is her tether. It’s a magnet. The corresponding magnet is the spot where Clint’s jaw meets his shoulder. 

Natasha isn’t untethered anymore. If someone found her and she was lost, they could find her home. The key is hanging around her neck. 

 

——

 

She kept driving. She pulled over again to check her phone. There, in the top left corner, two words written in black shine up at her: No Service. A warm wave washes over her. She feels both contained and opened up. It’s like nothing exists except for what’s between these two mountains, these two trees, the two edges of this road.

At the same time, her skin splits. Her organs pour till they’re resting on the pedals. No one can reach her now. No texts can reach her now, no news can reach her now. There’s nothing. 

She pulls up to the little cottage. Gets out of the car and walks towards the door. The sun is shining on her now.

He opens the door before she’s reached it, as if he senses her arrival. He’s wearing a plaid flannel over a t-shirt and jeans. She glances at his eyes, sees they’re filled with colors. She looks away.

“You look like a lumberjack,” she says when she reaches him.

“Hey,” he responds.

He wraps his arms around her and her pieces fall back in place and she’s whole and she’s warm. 

They go in, and sit on the couch. She hasn’t met his eyes yet. She knows there’s too much there, too many questions and statements that she has to address. Instead, she looks at the rest of him. At the red plain flannel that hangs on his shoulders. His shoulders, and how they meet his jaw. 

She finally works up the energy, and meets his eyes. First, she has to pull through yellow. Lots and lots of yellow. It’s bright and it says I’m here for you. It’s like honey, she finds herself getting stuck.

Next, blue. It asks how are you? She touches his knee. I’m okay. 

Then she reaches green. It’s bright, and pierces her, I am here for you. I will fight with you, I will fight for you. She gives him a small smile, the corners of her mouth turning upward in a thank you.

Finally, she reaches the core. The small lamp, the pink light radiating from it. The words written across his iris: I love you. 

She touches the arrow that lies between her collar bones. I love you too.

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written clintasha for a long time, but this popped into my head so here it is.


End file.
